During my teaching career — 1963-2007 — I have watched the roles of women change radically. From “barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen” mixed with low level jobs (secretaries and such), I have seen my students and others move on into the professions, academic fields from which they were virtually banned, and a host of creative and constructive roles both within and beyond our nation.

My mother had been trained as a teacher and had begun teaching when she married my father in the midst of the Depression. Last time around only one job was allowed per family to spread employment and she never resumed her career. Such is a part of the explanation of our unemployment problems today. Women are strong competitors with their male counterparts. I noticed that among my students — particularly minorities — they were far more likely to get this or that job. The figures now confirm my impressions.

I cannot say how proud I am of women doing their things these days. But obviously one of the employment problems in addition to our corporations shipping so many jobs over to China and elsewhere is that there are more people seeking jobs than those available — particularly in our recession.

I could not recommend the solution that my mother faced to solve the job problem, but we had better look to the real reasons rather than blaming this pol or another for what is a universal global problem. There simply is not enough work to go around — particularly physical labor. I enjoyed doing such jobs summers as a student. There is nothing more satisfying than making something — I made houses among other things.

Where do we go from here now to generate enough jobs, I do not know. Woman power has entered the picture and nations and communities that utilize it prosper.

And so it goes. What do you think?
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“A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope.” (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent 212-665-8535 (voice mail only) [blind copies]